Lynns Walking Wonder!

Have you thought about being more active? Lynn did and here’s her story:

Lynn works at Bridgwater & Taunton College, Bridgwater Campus. For some time she had been thinking about walking or cycling and becoming more active, stating exercise and avoiding the daily ordeal of car parking and traffic congestion as the key reasons.

“I hadn’t yet started walking or cycling mainly because I live a distance from the college. This together with time, work and family life meant it always came last, but I knew I wanted to do something differently and with a key birthday looming wanted to make it a goal. I needed some inspiration.” Lynn

What we did:

Lynn received an email from the College Champion for Active Steps at work as part of The Bridgwater Way and signed up for a free eight week Active Steps programme. Lynn took part in weekly lunchtime led walks where she was able to meet new colleagues, explore new routes around the locality and take in fresh air and exercise as part of her working day.

‘The benefits of Active Steps have been huge and surprised me! I now make a conscious effort to park further away from the college and walk the rest. This also applies at home where I now make local journeys by foot, where before I would have always taken the car; taking the strain and cost out of parking. I feel livelier and more alert at work, and find activities at home such as gardening much easier, I looked forward to the weekly Active Steps walks, which we enjoyed come rain or shine! Lynn

Lynn has continued the walks around the College, her colleague Bernard (pictured) also participated in Active Steps and he too has seen an improvement in his fitness, making changes to the way he travels, preferring to walk than take the car for local trips.

Since finishing the programme, Lynn and Bernard have signed up to undertake Champion Training which will be held at the College as part of The Bridgwater Way with a number of other businesses later in the summer to ensure a legacy for the project, and to enable others can enjoy benefits of walking and cycling.

Contact us at TBW@somerset.gov.uk to find out how you too can get involved.